Even a little bit helps.

In this case I'm talking about a little bit of organization. I can freely admit that it's not one of my strong points, but I do try to make baby steps in that direction as often as I can. I have learned to not kid myself into taking on these huge makeover into being organized kind of projects. If I don't do it in small doses, I don't usually follow through. So, I've seen all the space saving techniques for plastic grocery bags and decided to give it a shot.

With shopping for a family of six, I end up with a lot of those bags around my house. (And, yes, I use them for all kinds of other things around the house, but still have them everywhere.) I do own several of the reusable grocery bags which I actually keep in the back of my car so I'll have them with me. If only I could remember to carry them into the store with me, I'd be set!

Anyway, the tutorial I used can be found here.

This is what I started with:

That's three bags filled to overflowing!!!

As you can see, I forget to take the extra bags to the recycle bin even more often than I forget to use the other bags.

But, after spending quite a bit of time folding these bags, they all fit into the one lunch tote size bag......with room left over! Woohoo!! A little bit of organizing that I can keep up with and it really does make a big difference.

Here's another option for 'folding' them. I tried it, but I found that the football fold made the bags smaller and flatter.....although that can just be me. lol

Hope this helps with extra plastic bags around your house and that even a small bit of organization like this makes you as happy as it has me.

A little organization

Slowly but surely I'm going to get my house organized.

I think the key word here is really 'slowly'. But, hey, each little thing is a step in the right direction.

Here's what I did over the weekend.

Well, first of all, I cleaned out my pantry. That, my friend, was no small feat. I have a rather large pantry and it was crammed full of stuff that had no business being in there. It's just roomy and too easy to throw stuff on the extra shelves. There were so many craft things in there that it took me three trips to carry it all out to my craft room. I also went crazy throwing things out and that took another couple of trips out to the trash. In addition, I had a shelf that was nothing but cleaning supplies. I decided those had to go too.

So that gets me to my first organizing project picture.

 This shoe caddy used to hold my girls' hair clips and all of that stuff. But since they're older now and doing their own hair, they've moved all of that stuff into their own bathroom.

Why let a good organization tool go to waste?

I hung it on the back of the door in my laundry room and filled it with those cleaning supplies that I took from my pantry. Woohoo!! This one didn't cost me anything. Score!!

Oh, and I used the 3M removable hooks to hang it so that I didn't have to do any damage to my door. I love those things!!


Next.....

I have two sinks in the master bathroom. However, we only use one sink because the other one always has my flat iron and our blow dryer in it. Ha!

So, I was in Office Depot and bought a magazine holder that is metal to hold the blow dryer and flat iron.

I used more 3M removable hangars to hang it on the side of the bathroom cabinet right by the plug we use.

I LOVE IT!!!

How easy is that? I don't have to mess with the cords knocking things out of the cabinet if I put it in there and my sink is clear. I can't even remember that I can use the sink now because it's been so long.

Anyway, I can't begin to tell you how happy I am to have a clean pantry, organized cleaning supplies that are out of sight (because they're on the back of a door that I almost never close), and I can use both sinks in the bathroom (not to mention how much tidier it looks without those things in the sink.) It just makes me giddy!!

I hope it gives you ideas of different ways to use everyday stuff.

A little organization

I spent some quality time in my sewing room this weekend.

While I was out there, I managed to get a little organizing done.


And I do mean a LITTLE.

I got most of my ribbon in order.

I used a hanger that is designed for multiple pairs of pants. Each row (except for the very bottom) opens so that the ribbon spools can slide on and still be able to turn if you just want to pull off some ribbon and cut it.

This is such a welcome change since before this my ribbon was all in a bag. Well, that was before. I was looking for some ribbon one morning and I was in a hurry and got so frustrated that I had just dumped it all on the floor and that's where it remained (just keeping it real here.) So you can imagine how happy I am to have it up, organized, and out of the way. WooHoo!!

Now if only I could do that with the rest of the stuff in the room. LOL

Upcycled Goodies

I have three teenage daughters which means we have lots of hair accessories. They all share one bathroom which usually looks like a tornado has been through it. I'm always looking for any small way to help contain some of the mess.

Somewhere or another, I saw a container made from a used chips can and decided I could do something similar with a recently emptied oatmeal container. I headed to Hobby Lobby and bought a couple of sheets of 12 X 12 paper and then dug out my bottle of mod podge.

 

I coated up the oatmeal container with mod podge and wrapped the paper around it. I only did a little at a time to help keep the mess to a minimum.

After I got the container covered and gave it time to dry, I folded a little part along the bottom under and glued it into place to give the whole thing a cleaner look. I also cut a circle from the paper to cover the center of the lid.

The purpose here is for the girls to put their hair clips and pony tail holders inside the container and head bands fit perfectly on the outside.

Here's the finished product.

I hope they'll actually use it. LOL